


Keep Your Heart Outside Your Chest

by RedEris



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Children, Fatherhood, Gen, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 09:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17342813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedEris/pseuds/RedEris
Summary: He loves his children from the moment he first sees them, loves them with a protective passion that frightens him with its intensity. So small, so vulnerable, so terrifying to watch your heart go around outside your chest.Zevran loves his children deeply, but he never knew a safe world or a normal childhood.





	Keep Your Heart Outside Your Chest

He loves his children from the moment he first sees them, loves them with a protective passion that frightens him with its intensity. So small, so vulnerable, so terrifying to watch your heart go around outside your chest. He wakes in the dead of night, listening, watching, just to be sure they’re still breathing. He never stops smiling, but he doesn’t like it when other people hold them.

He adores teaching them to appreciate good food, coaching them to walk, doing tiny toddler gymnastics with them–tuck your chin when you roll! Protect your neck! He adores the first words, messy kisses, singing them to sleep in Antivan.

The first time they wander off, lured away maybe by a wandering food vendor, maybe a splendidly draped horse and rider, he is _terrified_. Furious. His anger frightens them into crying, and hates himself.

But the world is not safe. He cannot _make_ the world safe. Everything, _everything_ can be taken away. He cannot be there always. They must be _careful_. They must be better, smarter, faster than danger. They must be stronger than cruelty. He could shield them from this knowledge, but that would never protect them from its reality, so he does not.

As the children grow older, an outsider might mistake him for a permissive parent. He takes no note if they swear, actually encourages them to run fences, climb roofs, perch in trees. He lets them drink at dinner–where better to learn to handle your drink, he asks, eyebrow raised. He delights in their sass, bantering back and forth in ways that would shock a more conventional parent.

But they’re given a long knife young–oh, too old for him still, but it’s a compromise. And they’re expected to know how to use it. No one would mistake him as easy again after watching them train. Pain is not an excuse, fatigue is not an excuse, tears are not an excuse. Nothing is an excuse for lowering your guard. The world is dangerous. If he cannot be always there, then they must be dangerous too.


End file.
